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By: 16th March 2012 at 12:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-I should point out i'm happy to pay for this, but not the £50/hr (+vat) i'm currently being charged...
By: 16th March 2012 at 13:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-I think that this a fantastic opportunty for a skilled person interested in aircraft restoration to make a contribution to an established project. I would hope that someone will offer to assist with only costs for materials.
I would encourage anyone with the right skills or perhaps someone who would wish to develop their skills to make contact with Elliot.
By: 16th March 2012 at 13:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-alli welding
Robert
Why not try one of your local 'Technical Colleges' , I'm sure they would be up for a challenge .
they have expert tutors to oversee any work done , worth a phone call
By: 16th March 2012 at 13:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Robert
Why not try one of your local 'Technical Colleges' , I'm sure they would be up for a challenge .
they have expert tutors to oversee any work done , worth a phone call
Sady (for me) its Elliot's project. I suspect that Colleges may have difficulty in providing an ongoing service with standard quality but contact may produce a person (persons) who can assist.
By: 16th March 2012 at 14:19 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Welder Wanted
Hi there,
Have a look at www.BluebirdProject.com and if you see anything there that you like give us a shout.
Bill
By: 16th March 2012 at 16:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Have seen this guy's gas welding in the past most impressive! www.markcolemetalforming.com
By: 16th March 2012 at 17:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Hello Elliott, I have sent you an e-mail about someone I know
Ken
By: 16th March 2012 at 17:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Pm sent.
By: 16th March 2012 at 18:34 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Thanks Rob and everyone else for your replies and messages
I have a lot of new leads to follow up and will look into each one.
Thanks very much
Elliott
By: 16th March 2012 at 18:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Try GEF at raf coningsby theyll have a few lads that might do some sideline work
By: 16th March 2012 at 23:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Are they Tig or gas welding your stuff Elliot?I spent a couple of years learning the gas welding of aluminium when restoring Aston Martins.A gas welded joint will be annealed the same as the surrounding metal and therefore compress evenly when being formed with a body spoon.A Tig or alloy Mig welded joint is harder an will not do this without rippling the surrounding aluminium.The reason I ask is if it`s just joining components together that don`t have to be `worked` afterwards,Tig is fine,stuff that has to be formed with hammering or an English wheel will have to really be gas welded...which takes a hell of a lot of skill and you will pay a high rate to do it as there are not that many people doing it.An alternative...get yourself on a welding course and learn oxy-acetylene welding steel then teach yourself to do aluminium.It takes a lot of patience,but the key is having totally clean material,the correct flux and the right gas nozzle..........just try and picture welding two sheets of wax together and I think you`ll get the picture!!!!
By: 17th March 2012 at 05:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-You will also soon learn what "Floop!" actually means in welding terms (and probably a lot more words you never thought you knew) good luck anyway. Its rather difficult but as hindenburg has just said it is an attainable skill with lots of practice.
By: 17th March 2012 at 19:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Tig is fine,stuff that has to be formed with hammering or an English wheel will have to really be gas welded...
Not the case at all. We regularly make compound panels with TIG welded seams then wheel them afterwards. Because of the way heat flows through aluminium the heat affected zone is no different whether you use TIG or gas so either process is good for working the panels afterwards.
One thing you do have to be sure of, however, is to dress the welds down to the same thickness as the surrounding metal (that's easier with a gas weld) or the wheel will stretch the weld more than the surrounding material and you'll get some very interesting shapes.
If you wheel the parts of your panels then spot-weld them together you can then knock the tops off the spot welds with a die-grinder and wheel the whole panel before fully welding. That way it tends not to lose much shape in the welding process (depending on how thin the material is) thus minimizing the amount of working to be done later.
By: 17th March 2012 at 19:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-surely a Tig welding tip is going to heat up the parent metal in a smaller area quicker and so cooling quicker giving a different grain affect in the metal .I`m not doubting you can work the stuff on an english wheel afterwards with tig,just with gas the metal is softer??surely tig has to have different qualities..........or there wouldn`t be any gas alloy welders charging £50 an hour,they still use gas on the Astons at the factory,tig (IMHO) is easier to weld aluminium,so why bother training people to gas weld unless it has certain qualities that can`t be obtained with Tig.Your spot on with taking the weld back to the same guage as the parent metal,some very odd deformations i must say.
By: 17th March 2012 at 19:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Gas gives a nice flat weld whereas TIG tends to have more bulk but heat flows through aluminium at such a rate that, in my experience at least, there's nothing to choose between the state of the metal whether you use gas or TIG. I started on gas and now use TIG exclusively.
You still have a large area of material very close to meting point as you go and it normalizes in the same way when you take the heat off. If there's any doubt you can rub some soap on it and heat until the soap turns black to anneal the metal. By far the most important factor with wheeling welded seams is getting the metal back to the original thickness before you begin. If someone can tell me how to post pics on here I'll pop a few on.
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By: Whitley_Project - 16th March 2012 at 12:20
Does anyone know of one? Ideally in London, but it doesn't really matter where as I often post this stuff out anyway.
I'm currently using a top notch classic car restoration company. They expertly restore aluminium body work and do fantastic work with some of my corroded Whitley bits. The problem is they are charging a small fortune for this.
Can anyone out there weld aluminium sheet - 1mm and thicker? I have an unlimited supply of work for you if you want it!
Cheers
Elliott